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LENIN ON ORGANIZATION
Lenin on the Formation of the Bolshevik Party.
No one now questions the truth that the Russiar
proletariat in alliance with the peasantry was able
to emerge victorious from the struggle with the
bourgeoisie and the landlords, to hold out against
intervention and blockade, against unparalleled
economic ruin, famine and cold, and to set to work
to restore the economic life of Russia only because
it was led by an excellent, monolithic, Bolshevik
Party, closely welded with the masses. The great
founder of this party was V. I. Lenin. Consequently
every section of the Communist International must
learn how this party was formed and what organizational principles were introduced by V. I. Lenin in
its formation. Towards this end the Organisation
Department of the Executive Committee of the
Communist International is striving to bring to the
knowledge of all the sections of the Communist International V. I. Lenin's fundamental ideas on the
question of organization.
Of course the Russian Communist Party did not
become what we see it now all in one day. It developed in the struggle and in this book we will
endeavor, by means of extracts from the articles
and other works of Lenin, to make our comrades
acquainted with this struggle.
LENIN ON ORGANIZATION
The Conditions Under Which the Bolshevik Party
was Formed.
The proletarian party in Russia was formed under
conditions which differed from those in which the
proletarian parties in the Western countries were
formed. In the West the Socialist Parties were
formed under legal conditions, when legal labor organizations (trade unions, etc.), bourgeois parliaments and a minimum at least of liberty for the labor movement existed; in Russia, however, tie proletarian party was formed prior to the bourgeois
democratic revolution, under the severest absolutism, the absence of all liberties, but amidst an existing mass labor movement.
The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was
formed in 1898.
Up to the '90'8, owing to ^he backwardness of
Russia, the Social Democratic movement was maintained principally by intellectuals. Although the
workers took part in the movement, they did not
yet have their vanguard in the form of a revolutionary labor party and the importance of the developing labor movement was not sufficiently appreciated by the revolutionary intellectuals. Among
the most progressive section of the intellectuals
predominated the ideas of the so-called NarodnikI
(Populists) who denied that capitalism was developing in Russia and who argued that Russia would
progress towards Socialism by other and less painful paths than will the West, i. e., not through capitalism and large-scale machine production, but
through the peasant commune. Hence, in the '90s,
when Marxism began to beat a path for itself in
Russia, bourgeois intellectuals, totally alien to the
spirit of revolutionary Marxism, began to adopt
Marxism in order to disperse the petty-bourgeois
Narodniki's conception of the progress of the revolutionary movement in Russia and to prove that
Russia must inevitably pass through the stage of
capitalist production. This gave rise to the so-
called "legal Marxi-n". Meanwhile, the best Social Democrats were being systematically plucked
out of the ranks of the Social Democratic organizations by the Czarist gendarmerie. The intellectuals
had managed to permeate the labor movement, to
reduce it to a mere trade union movement (economise.) and to convert it into an auxiliary weapon
in the struggle of the liberal bourgeoisie. The revolutionary Social Democrats were therefore obliged
to take up the fight against the intellectuals.
The Social Democrats aimed so to train cadres of
experienced professional revolutionaries who were
to devote their lives entirely to party work, to give
them a definite Marxian program and definite
tactics, and finally to gather these cadres into a
united militant party sufficiently secret to be able
25
'

This folder contains many undated, unattributed planning documents and policy ideas by famous people and grassroots individuals in several places. Some of the undated planning documents for a CORE meeting discuss leadership issues between local and out-of-state civil rights workers and about voter registration. There's a list of demands about conditions in Natchez. Dave Dennis presents "Freedom '68" a proposed action plan for CORE. There's an unattributed proposal to redistribute wealth without regard to race. "C.O.R.E. Northern Project: Chicago" describes tensions among Chicago's neighborhood CORE branches. The 1964 "COFO Political Program" outlines the state process for electing delegates to the Democratic National Convention and declares the MFDP's intention to participate in that process and be seated there in place of the delegates chosen by the all-white Democratic Party of Mississippi as well as to run African American candidates for congressional office. "A Brief Description of Each Element of the CORE Southern Program To Be Included in the January [1965] Workshop" describes community centers, freedom schools, community organizing, food and welfare programs, political education, and federal programs. There's also an agenda and budget for this same workshop, held in New Orleans, and a description of the purposes of "CORE Southern workshops." There's a report of CORE activities in Greensboro, North Carolina. An April 7, 1965 "Discussion Outline" questions what the role of COFO will be in the face of the Voting Rights Act, Head Start programs, the War on Poverty, and other programs that will have an impact on African Americans. "Let's Have a Peoples' [sic] Conference" written by Mike Lesser for the May 1965 CORE conference, eloquently articulates both the civil rights vs. social work issues in the movement and the question of who should lead--local people or outsiders? A memo from National CORE describes the upcoming Louisiana Summer Program. "The Election in McComb--A Report" describes the first African American running for Selectman in McComb since Reconstruction, as well as the issues and process of the campaign. There's a proposal for the creation of an MFDP that would operate in five Southern states. There's an undated, unattributed list of demands about housing, employment, education, medical care, and other issues. A letter from Lynne Hollander (CORE) to Stokely Carmichael (SNCC) asks for better communication between the two organizations regarding an upcoming SNCC-proposed People's Conference. "By-Laws of The People's Organization" is taken from Saul Alinsky's Reveille for Radicals. "Lenin on Organization" "Mao Tse-Tung on Leadership" "Josef Stalin on the Character of the Party" and a couple of poems by Bertolt Brecht seem to be reprints from a Progressive Labor publication. Part of a document by Stanley Aronowitz called "Poverty, Politics, and Community Organization" and one by S. M. Miller on "Politicization and Community Organization" are here. Selections from CORE project director Norman Hill's resignation letter call into question CORE's 1964 programs. A United Church of Christ pamphlet called "Shall We Still Betray Our Lord?" discusses the civil rights movement as an "unmistakable crisis" and concludes, "We shall betray our Lord if we take no action now." The second issue of Freedom Now discusses Alinsky, Aronowitz, and Haggstrom's ideas about community organizing. A draft of "Organizing to End Segregation" [in Madison County, Mississippi] concludes the documents in this folder.

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

LENIN ON ORGANIZATION
Lenin on the Formation of the Bolshevik Party.
No one now questions the truth that the Russiar
proletariat in alliance with the peasantry was able
to emerge victorious from the struggle with the
bourgeoisie and the landlords, to hold out against
intervention and blockade, against unparalleled
economic ruin, famine and cold, and to set to work
to restore the economic life of Russia only because
it was led by an excellent, monolithic, Bolshevik
Party, closely welded with the masses. The great
founder of this party was V. I. Lenin. Consequently
every section of the Communist International must
learn how this party was formed and what organizational principles were introduced by V. I. Lenin in
its formation. Towards this end the Organisation
Department of the Executive Committee of the
Communist International is striving to bring to the
knowledge of all the sections of the Communist International V. I. Lenin's fundamental ideas on the
question of organization.
Of course the Russian Communist Party did not
become what we see it now all in one day. It developed in the struggle and in this book we will
endeavor, by means of extracts from the articles
and other works of Lenin, to make our comrades
acquainted with this struggle.
LENIN ON ORGANIZATION
The Conditions Under Which the Bolshevik Party
was Formed.
The proletarian party in Russia was formed under
conditions which differed from those in which the
proletarian parties in the Western countries were
formed. In the West the Socialist Parties were
formed under legal conditions, when legal labor organizations (trade unions, etc.), bourgeois parliaments and a minimum at least of liberty for the labor movement existed; in Russia, however, tie proletarian party was formed prior to the bourgeois
democratic revolution, under the severest absolutism, the absence of all liberties, but amidst an existing mass labor movement.
The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was
formed in 1898.
Up to the '90'8, owing to ^he backwardness of
Russia, the Social Democratic movement was maintained principally by intellectuals. Although the
workers took part in the movement, they did not
yet have their vanguard in the form of a revolutionary labor party and the importance of the developing labor movement was not sufficiently appreciated by the revolutionary intellectuals. Among
the most progressive section of the intellectuals
predominated the ideas of the so-called NarodnikI
(Populists) who denied that capitalism was developing in Russia and who argued that Russia would
progress towards Socialism by other and less painful paths than will the West, i. e., not through capitalism and large-scale machine production, but
through the peasant commune. Hence, in the '90s,
when Marxism began to beat a path for itself in
Russia, bourgeois intellectuals, totally alien to the
spirit of revolutionary Marxism, began to adopt
Marxism in order to disperse the petty-bourgeois
Narodniki's conception of the progress of the revolutionary movement in Russia and to prove that
Russia must inevitably pass through the stage of
capitalist production. This gave rise to the so-
called "legal Marxi-n". Meanwhile, the best Social Democrats were being systematically plucked
out of the ranks of the Social Democratic organizations by the Czarist gendarmerie. The intellectuals
had managed to permeate the labor movement, to
reduce it to a mere trade union movement (economise.) and to convert it into an auxiliary weapon
in the struggle of the liberal bourgeoisie. The revolutionary Social Democrats were therefore obliged
to take up the fight against the intellectuals.
The Social Democrats aimed so to train cadres of
experienced professional revolutionaries who were
to devote their lives entirely to party work, to give
them a definite Marxian program and definite
tactics, and finally to gather these cadres into a
united militant party sufficiently secret to be able
25
'

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.